Chicago, IL – The congregants at Healing Temple Church on Chicago’s West Side welcomed veteran community organizers to a rally against attacks on their beloved city, on March 1.

150 people came to the church to defend Mayor Brandon Johnson, who, along with several other progressive mayors has been called to testify before racist Republicans in Congress. This is a continuation of the Trump agenda's attacks on Chicago for being a progressive city with strong movement forces.

Billed as a “Sendoff rally for Mayor Johnson,” when the mayor entered the church, it was clear this was a crowd of his supporters.

The crowd raised the roof with a chant made famous in the 1960s on the West Side by Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party: “all power to the people!” During the 60s, this slogan meant that Black people, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, and the working class in the U.S. are the people, in struggle against the tiny minority referred to today as the billionaires.

Start of a new movement?

Jitu Brown, a new member of the first elected school board in Chicago history, was early among the speakers at the rally. He framed the advances in the history and current characteristics of the struggle here.

A veteran of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Brown is perhaps most well-known for the 34 day Dyett High School Hunger Strike to stop the closing of schools in Black communities during the Rahm Emanuel administration.

Brown reminded us that the ruling class has closed over 160 schools in the Chicago Public Schools system, stating, “They didn’t want to improve public education: they wanted to remove Chicago as a Soul City.” A soul city refers to a city that is a majority Black. In the year 2000, 54% of Chicago public school students were Black. Today only 35% are Black. 47% are Latino, and 70% are low income.

The Dyett Hunger Strike took place in 2015, following Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s closing 50 schools in 2013, mostly in Black neighborhoods.

Standing against anti-immigrant attacks

Brown added, “Today a lot of the energy is anti-immigrant.” From his history being schooled by the Black power movement, he said, “We will not support the oppression of any people.”

Speaking of the history of the Black community struggle for good public schools, Brown went after Brandon Johnson’s enemies, stating, “A lot of the negativity that you are hearing about our mayor are from those people who have been using the city of Chicago as a pig’s trough for decades.”

“It is time for the city to do right by Black and brown people. We’re sitting in a city that has never had an elected school board, now with one.”

“We are in a city that has had privatizers running the city, and through our collective work, we put one of our own on the Fifth Floor.” The fifth floor of City Hall is where the mayor’s office is located.

Referring to Mayor Johnson’s appearance before the Republican-dominated Congress, Brown said, “This is just a little pit stop to let the world know we are building a better Chicago.”

“No matter how loud they bark, they are not going to disrupt what we call the soul of Chicago.”

Mayor Johnson: “Beauty of liberation”

Johnson took the pulpit as the crowd roared support. After speaking about the Republicans he will face in Washington, he said, “It’s important that we honor those that had enough foresight to put measures in place to ensure that the voices of marginalized people would never be squashed by the federal government or law enforcement. There was a brother by the name of James Montgomery, the first Black corporate counsel in Chicago history. He was also the legal counsel for the Black Panther Party.”

The mayor went on to say that “James Montgomery sent a note to Mayor Harold Washington that we should not allow federal agents to run through our city. Nor should we allow them to force local law enforcement to do their job.”

“They understood how the brutality of law enforcement could harm people. Whether you are undocumented or a descendant of slaves, James Montgomery understood that we cannot allow the federal government to suppress or oppress our people.”

Johnson closed his remarks with this: “We’re going to make sure that the roar that comes out of Chicago ignites a movement across America and across the globe. No matter where you’re from, you get to have the beauty of liberation in the city of Chicago.”

“We fight for working people! Are you with me, Chicago?”

The people united can never be defeated

Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), the lead organizer of the rally, spoke after Mayor Johnson.

“If you consider yourself a Black freedom fighter, engaged in the struggle for the liberation of our people, you cannot be guilty of hating on the immigrants. You cannot fall for the seeds of division planted by Trump and his reactionary minions, that somehow, some way, poor people coming from the south of our borders, seeking asylum; poor people seeking freedom from terror in their own lands, encouraged and supported by our government; that somehow this poses a problem for Black people.”

“This doesn’t pose a problem for us! We got a problem with the same people they have a problem with. We stand united with these people because we share a common oppressor: the billionaires that have always used the tool of racism to divide and conquer.”

Chapman called for support of the Sanctuary City laws that prohibit local law enforcement from engaging in immigration enforcement. “We reject the ideas that immigrants are criminals and deporting them would take the crime rate down.”

“What would take the crime rate down is to deport Trump!”

Black/Latino coalition

About one quarter of the crowd in the church were Latino activists and community members from the nearby Chicano/Mexicano neighborhoods. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez was one of the Latino activists who joined the rally, representing the 25th Ward of neighborhoods like Pilsen and Little Village on the Lower West side of Chicago.

Sigcho-Lopez explained, “Chicago is a target. Trump targets us for deportations, but Chicago is also our hope.”

As his three small children gathered around him, Sigcho-Lopez said, “This is why we fight for the quality public education that all our children deserve.”

Sigcho-Lopez called for unity of all working people – Black, Latino, Asian and white – against attacks on immigrants and against the closing of public schools and unionized charter schools like Acero. In addition, last week ICE seized a father dropping off his children at Acero.

What do these two movements of resistance have in common? Sigcho-Lopez said, “The billionaires in DC and the billionaires in Chicago don’t have enough, so they take from the poor.”

“When we see parents being grabbed from their communities, we have to stand for the dignity of our people.”

“There’s no place I would rather be than Chicago, the city of Rudy Lozano and Mayor Harold Washington!” Sigcho-Lopez referred to union organizer and Chicano community leader Rudy Lozano, who supported the election of Harold Washington in 1983. This created for the first time a Black and Latino coalition, making possible the defeat of the white racist Democratic Party and election of Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor.

Chicago Alliance: On to Washington

In support of Mayor Johnson when he appears before the racist Republicans in Congress, Chapman announced, “Black History Month is over, but Black history is still going on, and we’re going to make some today. On the 5th, we’re going to Washington, DC to support our mayor and our city.”

Sigcho-Lopez gave special mention to the role played by CAARPR in organizing the rally. Crystal Gardner, one of the West Side organizers, also said afterward about this rally, “A big shout out to the Chicago Alliance for having the blueprint, vision, mission and base to activate spaces and communities. This is only the beginning, and I look forward to many more!”

#ChicagoIL #IL #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ImmigrantRights #BrandonJohnson #CAARPR #NAARPR #CTU

Tacoma, WA – Community members gathered at the South Tacoma Library on Tuesday, February 25, for a “Black Liberation and Scientific Socialism” panel hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP).

The program featured speakers from both organizations and lively discussion on the oppression faced by Black people in the U.S. and on the African continent, as well as the road ahead under the Trump administration.

“Under neocolonialism the masses toil under stagnant and worsening conditions but must produce substantially more,” said Terrence McCall of the AAPRP.

McCall gave a history of the development of Pan-Africanism, noting the contributions of leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois from the United States, and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.

Next, Mathieu Chabaud of the FRSO presented on the history of the Black Liberation Movement in the United States. Drawing from the book Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism by Frank Chapman, Chabaud started with an analysis of the economic driving forces behind the American Civil War, stating, “The reason the South lost was not because of the noble efforts of white abolitionists, but because 186,000 former slaves revolted in general strike and joined the Union Army.”

Chabaud continued with a history of Reconstruction in the South, and the development of the Black Belt thesis by Black communists such as Harry Haywood.

Lastly, Talison Crosby of the FRSO analyzed the continuation of the Black Liberation Movement into the 21st century and the tasks ahead for the people’s movements. “During the George Floyd Rebellion of 2020, something happened that had never happened before,” said Crosby. “Millions of people in all 50 states took to the streets. It was a Black-led uprising, but the majority of people who participated in it are not Black.”

“I remember hitting the streets during the uprising in 2020. I remember volunteering at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” said Gemini Gnull. “I’m a member of the Osage Nation. Full indigenous sovereignty and liberation for my people is not possible without socialism. And socialism in the United States is not possible without Black liberation. We’ve all got a common enemy. Black people and Indigenous people are natural allies in the fight against oppression.”

In general, attendees were angry about Trump’s attacks on the people and in agreement that a clear-eyed analysis of the conditions were necessary in order to achieve their political goals and defeat Trump’s agenda.

Concluding the event, Crosby quoted Frank Chapman: “As Frank says, ‘We stand in the rosy dawn of a new movement.’ It’s our responsibility to finally complete the unfinished revolution of the Reconstruction era. The tasks ahead are tremendous, but the future is certainly bright.”

#TacomaWA #WA #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackHistoryMonth #FRSO #AAPRP #NAARPR

Minneapolis – More than 100 people gathered at the New City Center for “We Keep Us Safe: A Teach-in on the Black History of Community Control of the Police,” hosted by Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The program featured panelists from National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression branches in different cities – all in various stages of the fight for local community control of the police.

Jae Yates, a leader in TCC4J, opened with a presentation on the Black history of community control. TCC4J is leading the campaign for an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission (CPAC) to establish community control over Minneapolis police.

“At its core, community control of police is about giving power to the communities most-affected by police violence, often composed of the Black working class,” explained Yates. “TCC4J organizes for community control because we believe that’s the first step to dismantling the violent systems of policing and incarceration that are currently brutalizing and tearing apart our communities.”

Yates outlined the history of policing in the U.S., which started with slave patrols and so-called Black Codes to criminalize and repress Black people. They also described the period of Reconstruction, when Black people in the South had democratic community control over how the law was enforced and who enforced it. The end of Reconstruction also symbolized the end of Black political power, including control of law enforcement. Decades later, the Black Power movement revived the demand for community control of police. Yates also described historical connections between the Black liberation movement, and movements in support of gay liberation and Palestinian liberation.

Syd Loving, a national leader of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke about the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), from its founding in 1973. “The 80s and 90s were tough on the Black Liberation Movement. They killed our leaders, put our leaders in jail and repressed our movement.” During those years, most Alliance branches stopped operating. “The good news is the Alliance was refounded in 2019, and as of today we have 30 branches across the country. The beautiful message there is that the struggle for community control of police is alive across the country!”

Loving also described how the struggles for community control and for Black Liberation are part of “the broader struggle to pull up all forms of oppression and exploitation from the root. In FRSO we talk about our strategy for revolution, and it’s the united front against monopoly capitalism. At the core of that united front is the strategic alliance between the national liberation movements and the entire working class.”

She described how the coalition of the Alliance and other Black-led organizations with working with progressive labor unions was the key to victories in Chicago. “When we come together and recognize that we have a common enemy, that we have something to win, that takes us so much further on the road to pulling up monopoly capitalism from the root and building a world where everyone can be free.”

Toni Jones of New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP) described how she got involved in organizing: “The movement that had been spurred on by what happened in Minneapolis in 2020 was dying down. The nonprofits were saying things, but they weren’t fighting for anything. They weren’t standing up for our community. So I realized that I would have to be the fight that I wanted to see. We formed NOCOP to stand up for the community.” Jones added, “The end goal of this struggle was never about fighting the police. It’s fighting for power.”

Jones continued, “When we support community control it’s so we can get those police and move them out of our way, so we can directly take the fight to those in city hall, take the fight to those in the Pentagon, take the fight to those in White House, without worrying about our heads getting beaten in for supporting those that we love.”

Merawi Gerima, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) also got involved in the movement in 2020. “The George Floyd rebellion kicked off while I was up here, and I remember seeing a flyer for a National Day of Action with some organization with too many letters in the name. I ended up going. I had never seen anything like that in my life in downtown Chicago.” That organization was CAARPR, which Gerima joined. “The following year, the year that we were able to pass the ECPS [Empowering Communities for Public Safety] ordinance establishing these two bodies in our city which are the beginnings of community control of police in Chicago. It’s the most-advanced, democratic police accountability system in the country and it’s only just beginning.”

Panelists discussed how to respond to community fears that CPAC may stop cops from protecting them, or other concerns about community control of police. They explained that police departments aren’t showing data to prove that massive budgets (hundreds of millions of dollars in large cities) are reducing crime or solving cases.

Gerima said, “We’re fighting to hold the police accountable, for the things that they do, and the things that they don’t do in our communities. Black people are overpoliced and under protected and we want power to be able to change that.”

Gerima also warned listeners against putting a call for police abolition at the forefront, stating, “The fastest way to lose Black people on the Southside is to say we want to get rid of the police. And that’s not to say that it’s not a reasonable goal in the future. It’s to say that conditions right now don’t support that. Black people want to hold the police accountable, they want justice for the things that police do to them, they want them to be punished for the crimes that they commit against us and they want to be able to call them when they need them. The people that we need to win this fight understand the equation perfectly.”

When asked what motivates their commitment to keep working, Jones said, “I know that what’s at stake is the personal stories of the people that we meet in this work. They don’t get to hang up their struggles and the tears when they go home at night. They go to sleep thinking about whether they’ll ever get justice for their sons. If I keep them in mind, I know it’s way too soon to start calling it quits.”

In that spirit, Tiffany Jackson, sister of Allison Lussier, was invited to the stage after the panel discussion. Lussier, a native woman, was murdered by her boyfriend after the Minneapolis police failed to act on numerous 911 calls and orders for protection. Instead of investigating the case as a murder, MPD Chief O’Hara began a public smear campaign against Lussier. He claims her death was caused by a drug overdose, despite the medical examiner’s office saying they were unable to determine how Lussier died. Pressure from family and community supporters recently pushed the city council to order a formal audit of MPD’s handling of Lussier’s case.

Several activists stood beside Jackson, including Alissa Washington, of the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Families Council-MN. Washington urged the crowd to keep an eye on this case, “We do need all nations to get together on this, you guys. We are Black, white, native up here. We need everybody to mobilize, because we don’t know what will happen.”

#MinneapolisMN #MN #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackHistoryMonth #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #TCC4J #NAARPR

As the struggle for national liberation continues, we experience attacks and opposition from various angles in our society. The state weaponizes law enforcement and the justice system in order to threaten, subdue and eradicate those in our movements. The mainstream media sits at the opposite arm of this imperial body, disseminating propaganda to dull and warp the minds of millions through half-truths and obfuscation. To effect the reinforcing chauvinist fervor and trust in the system of capitalistic exploitation, we are constantly bombarded with stories and roundtable discussions syndicated by media conglomerates. These figures are financially incentivized to keep the masses from adopting any semblance of class consciousness.

Perhaps one of the more observable forms of this process is the constant stream of lies and false narratives reported around the Palestinian genocide by politicians and political pundits.

However, I’ve observed a less obvious form of media programming that has been significantly more effective in its goals of reproducing individualistic ideals and enforcing systems of oppression that collectively harm our communities. I’m talking about rap music. More specifically, I’m speaking about the productions by artists financed by industrial powerhouses to create vapid and heavily corporatized messaging.

Media that contains materialistic glamorization provides one side of the myth of Black capitalism to a catchy 808. A genre that at one point featured a plethora of young Black artists creating art that called upon criticisms of the various mechanisms of this society built on white hegemony, has largely been replaced them by those who will, at best, make shallow references to Black radical political ideas while eschewing any calls for changing our society to better meet our material conditions.

A Brand Nubian or Public Enemy of the early 90s, two groups who followed the Black radical tradition of utilizing media to raise political consciousness, simply could not and do not exist with any mainstream presence in the present day. That isn’t to say that these artists no longer exist, but they are not at the forefront of the media circuit. This has not stopped the rap industry from becoming a global enterprise, with artists selling out millions in stadium venues across the world and headlining major sports events to crowds that would otherwise have disapproved of their preponderance. Rap is bigger than it’s ever been in the history of the genre, and along with it the media programming is at an all-time high.

As a person who has been a fan of the genre for over two decades, I’ve watched an industry become more and more co-opted into vectors of mass compliance for capitalist exploitation – from brand deals and corporate sponsorships to globalization through every major social media platform on the internet. Rap is everywhere, and as much love I have for the genre it is primarily not positioned for the betterment of our communities.

Concretely, what we have today is an ever expanding list of artists who serve the interests of those who most profit off the U.S. propaganda machine. Take Kendrick Lamar, who is widely regarded in both numerical and cultural values (ticket sales, music awards and pop cultural relevance) as one of the most highly successful rap artists of the last few decades. His discography includes a mix of upbeat and party music to more introspective and culturally relatable works exploring themes of financial exploitation and interpersonal relationship struggles (To Pimp a Butterfly, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers). What his artistry lacks, however, is any attempt at providing a sober analysis of the systems that churn profit off of our oppression and raise the question of the legitimacy of capitalism.

When he says, “But remember, you ain't pass economics in school. And everything you buy, taxes will deny. I'll Wesley Snipe your ass before thirty-five,” he speaks to one of the ways that the tax system works in tandem with scholastic institutions to produce talented Black artists ignorant of financial exploitation. At the same time, there is no call to divorce young Black artists from engaging in this industry in the first place. An exploitative practice in the system is pointed out, but the legitimacy of the system and those benefiting from it remain relatively untouched. In fact, in this same song he features media mogul and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment Dr. Dre, who not only mentored Kendrick in his rise to success but is directly responsible for signing him onto the record label which produced most of his albums.

Aftermath Entertainment is but one of many subsidiaries of the media powerhouse Universal Music Group, which has managed the albums of some of the most commercially successful pop artists of the last few decades, from Justin Beiber to Taylor Swift. It’s also worth noting that the CEO of this company, Lucian Grainge, is a staunch Zionist who has maintained an imperialist stance on the genocide of Palestinians for years. Music produced under such a global conglomerate simply cannot be allowed to question monopoly capitalism in any substantive form, and yet it is this music that is widely distributed through all manner of media outlets. Clearly it represents no threat to any wing of the establishment, and the artists who are absorbed into the system are used to expand the profits of the CEOs and their constituents through brand endorsements and commercial advertising.

Seeing an artist heralded by the masses appear in a TV commercial for a multinational financial corporation like American Express, which Kendrick did alongside Shaq in 2016, only one year after To Pimp a Butterfly, sends a dangerous message to those communities – a message exacerbated by the fact that Kendrick was put on tour by that same financial corporation in the same year. And, to bring it to recent events, was the featured artist for one of the most televised sporting events in the world. This message is antithetical to the movement we are trying to build, and one that we cannot allow to foster amongst the people unabated.

Growing up in the Black Belt South, I’ve experienced the effects that rap and hip-hop cultures largely have had on myself and my peers. There was a time when I would have championed a Kendrick Lamar Superbowl show, without considering the implications of showcasing dozens of corporations before, during and after the performance. The same performance had one of the backup dancers, Zul-Qarnain Nantambu, arrested for independently showing international solidarity for those suffering imperial-backed genocide in Palestine. But I wasn’t a communist who believed in the science of Marxism-Leninism then, and now that I am I see another great need in our working class struggles against the state.

As we move forward in our struggles of liberation against the forces committed to our repression, we simply cannot understate the significance of mass media and the celebrity class in manufacturing consent for this system of greed and exploitation. When Malcolm X said, “The media is the most powerful entity on earth.” he was speaking to the power of the media to fool the working-class into believing in false narratives and to keep from correctly identifying and mobilizing against those in power.

In all our organizing grounds, we seek to correct these ideas through political education of the people. However, we need to go a step further and cultivate a culture of media analysis that identifies the vectors of these pacifying ideas and address their sources of influence. When internationally recognized artists such as Meg the Stallion and Will.i.am are brought onto Kamala Harris’ campaign trail, we must be able to recognize the role they are playing in the imperial core and treat them as such. It’s the same position that Malcolm X correctly identified in 1963, and that role has only intensified in the digital age.

Furthermore, our struggle against this arm of monopoly capitalism must be waged within and amongst ourselves. Our media consumption and engagement should be filtered through a materialist analysis of the artists and the messaging they are distributing amongst the masses. That means being expressly critical of the music and supporting industries we engage in, even more so given where we situate ourselves in these national liberation struggles. This is not a call to destroy your copy of Late Registration because of Kanye West’ most recent trend towards nazi apologia and his professed allegiance to the most reactionary elements of the U.S. political landscape. Rather, it is a reminder of the many forces we are up against as we continue to advance the struggle towards collective liberation from imperialism. We wish to transform society into one that is free from class exploitation, and we must be ready and willing to engage in that struggle in every aspect it manifests in. Even if that manifestation is set to a dope bass line.

#Culture #Opinion #Commentary #AfricanAmerican #Rap

Chicago, IL- On Friday night, February 21, Freedom Road Socialist Organization held an event celebrating Black history and international solidarity in the Black liberation movement. The event took place in the office of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) on the city’s South Side and consisted of a panel of speeches and some performances representing Black, Palestinian and Chicano liberation, as well as youth and labor struggles.

The night was electrified by music from Faayani Mijana and poetry from Brian Young Jr, both members of CAARPR. Their art lifted the spirits of attendees and provided a cultural connection to the political tasks raised by panelists in a discussion facilitated by Jae Franklin of the Anti-War Committee, Chicago.

“We are currently living in a state of siege, and our government is the enemy of the people,” FRSO Central Committee member Frank Chapman said about the Trump administration’s attacks against immigrants in particular and working and oppressed people in general.

“We must oppose all these racist policies put forward by Trump and his minions,” Chapman continued. “As oppressed people we must all unite and fight back!”

The main focus of the night was solidarity. Speakers pointed to the common enemies of working and oppressed people.

“The only way out is together. Black people and Chicanos are both oppressed nations. We face, for example, similar police repression and defunding of education,” said Angel Naranjos, a leader within Students for a Democratic Society at UIC and CAARPR’s recently formed Immigrants Rights Working Committee.

The panel noted that U.S. imperialism is an enemy of people internationally in addition to the multinational working class in the U.S.

“Our enemy is global so our response must be global,” said Nicholas Richard Thompson, the Chicago chair and Midwest organizer of Black Alliance for Peace. Thompson and other speakers emphasized the need to stand with oppressed people around the world against U.S. imperialism.

Panelists and performers specifically spoke about Trump's threats against South Africa’s sovereignty and his stated intentions for the U.S. to “own” Gaza. The panel also discussed how oppressed people have won in the past against imperialist representatives like Trump.

“The solidarity between Black and Arab communities is not new. Our movements have stood together in the face of imperialism, colonization and systemic oppression,” said Nadiah Alyafai of the US Palestinian Community Network. She explained the lineage of solidarity from the Black Panther Party to the Ferguson uprising, and then connected this history to the past year of protests for Palestine and against the U.S. backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Alyafai also encouraged organizations to join the newly formed Coalition Against the Trump Agenda, which was convened to unite a range of movements in resistance against the overt attacks that have already been coming from the White House and will continue for at least four years.

One of Trump's main targets is public education. This is why the Chicago Teachers Union is currently negotiating contract proposals such as academic freedom for teachers and elimination of racist evaluation practices, designed to protect Chicago’s oppressed communities from Trump and other racists.

“The battle for civil rights also takes place in the classroom. Knowledge of self and representation matters,” said Kevin Moore, a social studies teacher and Chicago Teachers Union member, also explaining why it is critical to stop the Trump administration’s attacks on Black history in schools and its broader attacks on the education system.

CTU recently continued its history of working together with community organizations by joining the CATA alongside CAARPR, USPCN, SDS, AWC, Casa Dupage Workers Center, and dozens of other organizations.

The coalition being built in Chicago is one of many around the country. It shows in practice a lesson from Black history that every panelist on Friday uplifted: united resistance is the best defense against the divide and conquer strategy of oppressors.

“Understanding Black history gives us a blueprint for the struggle,” Moore said. “The Trump playbook is not new. We beat it before, and we'll beat it again.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackHistoryMonth #NAARPR #CAARPR #FRSO #Feature

The event was well attended and discussed systemic racism, historical repression and solidarity efforts in Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas. Topics spanned education inequities, Confederate symbolism, police violence, and grassroots resistance, linking past injustices to modern struggles.

Speakers detailed Fort Worth’s segregated education history, including I.M. Terrell High School, the sole secondary school for non-white students before Brown v. Board of Education, and contrasted it with today’s diverse Trinity High School. Discussions about UT Arlington centered on its Confederate past, including the “Johnny Rebel” mascot, and pro-segregation university presidents like E.E. Davis and Jack R. Woolf. The speakers also addressed the 1921 lynching of Fred Rouse, which underscored Fort Worth’s legacy of racial terror.

Presenters a talked about the history of the Little Mexico barrios, established during the 1910s Mexican Revolution and the 1954 Hernandez v. Texas ruling that extended 14th Amendment protections to Mexican Americans, but noted that police violence yet persisted. The 1973 killing of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez – abducted without a warrant, tortured and executed by officer Darrel Cain – sparked outrage. Cain served just two and a half years.

“We see that there are points where history repeats itself,” said a speaker at the event, linking Santos Rodriguez’s murder to modern cases like Atatiana Jefferson’s killing by Fort Worth police. “The state chooses to put their weight behind these wrongdoings. This is why we must demand community control of the police.”

The town hall closed with a call for united action against systemic racism, emphasizing that collective struggle, not isolated efforts will drive change.

#DallasTX #TX #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #InJusticeSystem #ImmigrantRights #NAARPR

St. Paul, MN – On February 8, in honor of Black History Month, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) presented an educational panel titled “Black Against Empire: Perspectives On Liberation In Haiti, Congo, Sudan, and the U.S.A.”

The panel was held at Macalester College in Saint Paul. Experts, activists and community leaders spoke about the timelines, struggles and victories of African people throughout history against imperialist oppression.

The panelists included Frank Chapman, head of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR); Nick Tolliver, member of the AWC; Mohammed Farah, member of Healthcare Workers For Palestine, along with a written statement submitted by Ruben Joanem of the Haiti Justice Committee. Facilitating the event were Liz Bolsoni from the AWC and Trahern Crews from Black Lives Matter Minnesota.

“The bottom line is, we have to fight our way out of this. We can’t analyze our way out of it. We can’t pray our way out of it. We’ve got to fight our way out of it,” Chapman said. “We’re building a mass movement, and we’ve got to build even greater.” Chapman is the Executive Director of NAARPR, field organizer of its Chicago chapter, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and sits on the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

“The exploitation of the Congo is the beating heart of the global capitalist system and our collective liberation from imperialism and capitalism is bound together with the liberation of the Congo,” said Tolliver, who provided a history of liberation struggles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tolliver is an anti-war activist and self-proclaimed “Black history nerd” who is passionate about Congo solidarity and African liberation.

Farah was born and raised in Khartoum, Sudan, and works as a hospital pharmacist in Minnesota while pursuing a graduate degree in public health. Farah expanded on the cultural foundation of Sudan found in art and poetry. He said, “Poets are the embodiment of the soul of a nation. It creates the spirit of Sudanese nationalism.”

As presentations and speeches concluded, a dialogue was opened between the panelists and the audience to further discuss issues that Black people have historically faced and how they tie in with modern struggles connected with capitalism and imperialism.

The final question asked was about the future of community organizing around Black liberation, to which Chapman closed with the statement, “Well, the future is always now. And the future belongs to those who are willing to fight for it.”

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackHistoryMonth #International #Africa #Sudan #Congo #StudentMovement #NAARPR #MNAWC #BLM

Denver, CO – On Monday, January 20, Denver held its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day “Marade” – a combination march and parade. Despite single-digit temperatures, roughly 600 people showed up to honor the legacy of Dr. King.

This year, the march happened to fall on the same day as the inauguration of Donald Trump. This was not lost upon the attendees, many of whom carried signs and banners opposing Trump’s racist agenda.

“Trump represents the worst of the worst when it comes to students, the environment, immigrants and all other oppressed people,” said Khalid Hamu of Students for a Democratic Society. Part of Trump’s agenda includes abolishing the Department of Education and the ability to enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

During the march, a contingent of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) led chants and carried a large banner reading “Fight for MLK’s dream, reject Trump’s nightmare!” At the end of the march, Brandon Rincon of the FRSO addressed the crowd, encouraging ongoing resistance to Trump’s attacks.

#DenverCO #CO #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #MLK #FRSO #SDS #Trump

New Orleans, LA – On January 20, around 100 students, workers and New Orleans community members representing 20 organizations commemorated MLK Day by marching in the streets. They gathered to march against Donald Trump’s agenda on the day of his inauguration.

Throughout the march protesters carried signs against deportations, attacks on abortion rights and many other issues representing the people’s movements. Black protesters led chants from a truck leading the march, followed by the main banner of the coalition that stated, “Unite & fight the racist Trump agenda.” Drummers played along with the crowd’s chants, such as “Say it loud! Say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here!”

The coalition to march on MLK Day/Inauguration Day was initiated by New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP). The event kicked off with a rally at A.L. Davis Park, named for the local civil rights leader who helped to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference along with Martin Luther King Jr. Toni Jones from NOCOP opened the march, saying, “We’re out here because we are organizations made up of people who decided that they want to stand up and not take oppression lying down.”

Union Migrante, a local immigrant organization, gave one of the first speeches. One member told the crowd, “To hell with the dictator! We will be here fighting back whenever a politician comes along trying to push racist laws against the immigrant community or Black community here in New Orleans!”

After some speeches, demonstrators loudly took the streets, marching on one of New Orleans’ busiest streets, South Claiborne Avenue. The march then turned right at the corner of S. Claiborne and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which features a bust of the civil rights leader on a tall pillar.

Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard travels through the Black Central City Neighborhood of New Orleans and intersects with Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, named after another civil rights icon of New Orleans. At that intersection sits a sculpture of many hands joined together dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. The march ended there and concluded with speeches from other organizations in the people’s movements.

Jasmine Groves, NOCOP member and daughter of Kim Groves, who was murdered by a member of New Orleans Police Department, gave a powerful speech. She delivered statements by Mona Hardin and Arlene Robertson, the mothers of Ronald Greene and Daviri Robertson. Greene was murdered by Louisiana State Police while handcuffed in 2019, and Robertson was murdered by Jefferson Parish Sheriff officers that same year.

Groves told the crowd, “Our criminal justice system is broken. Why should I have faith in a system that is not for us as a people? We as a people have to come together and realize who has the voice and who has the power. We have had so many great leaders to pave the way. From the Black Panthers to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, even to my mom.”

Other speakers represented LGBTQ and environmental rights organizations, both of which face increased threats in Louisiana because of Governor Jeff Landry’s reactionary agenda. A republican federal government that will strip all environmental protections means that the remaining Louisiana landmass will be delivered to oil-extracting companies on a silver platter.

Speakers from Palestinian Youth Movement and New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP) spoke about the recent achievement of a ceasefire in Gaza by the Palestinian resistance. They highlighted Trump’s racist views towards Palestinians and uplifted the need to honor martyrs of resistance such as MLK Jr and Tawfic Abdeljabbar, a Palestinian-American student from New Orleans who was killed by the IDF while visiting Palestine in January 2024.

Students for Democratic Society member Juleea Berthelot told the crowd, “Today we gather not just to honor the legacy of MLK Jr but to keep his fight for justice alive, to speak truth to power and to demand that our voices be heard.” Berthelot shared their motivation for participating in the march, saying, “My identity as a Black person, as a student and as someone who’s been arrested for speaking out compels me to fight for a future that honors Martin Luther King’s dream. Not just in words, but in action. That is why we are here today. We will not be silent in the face of a president who is intent on reversing the progress that we fought so hard to make.”

#NewOrleansLA #LA #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #MLK #Trump #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #NOCOP

Atlanta, GA – On Monday, January 20, the streets of downtown Atlanta were filled with activists, community and youth groups, and a number of labor unions who all marched to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Among the unions present were Teamsters Locals 728 and 396, as well as the IBEW, CWA, SEIU and Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council.

For UPS Teamsters this is the second year in history that MLK day is a paid holiday, following the “Deliver on the Dream” campaign in 2023 that saw the holiday added to the Teamsters contract. King was a staunch ally of organized labor; he spoke to labor unions across the country about the need to fight racist discrimination and led marches demanding improved rights for workers.

The demands of organized labor are especially dire this MLK day, as it coincided with the inauguration of Donald Trump to the presidency. Teamsters led chants against union busting and workplace abuses. Trump used hollow rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to the working class during the 2024 election, calling out the rising costs of living and exorbitant spending on foreign wars. In the same breath, Trump incites xenophobic and anti-Black racism. From Trump’s promise to deport a record number of immigrants to his support for a national right-to-work law, there can be no doubt that he will be an enemy of labor while in office.

Martin Luther King Jr himself drew the connection between the rights of labor and the fight against racism in a 1961 address to the AFL-CIO convention, stating, “Our needs are identical with labor’s needs – decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community. That is why Negroes support labor’s demands and fight laws which curb labor. That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.”

Amazon Teamster Hunter Richau from Local 728 spoke on King’s legacy regarding labor, saying, “As much as his image gets whitewashed, MLK was fighting for the working class. The fight we wage on his birthday every year from here on out will be a fight for the working people here in Atlanta. The working class is already here, and we need to stick together. If MLK were here today he would champion nothing less.”

#AtlantaGA #GA #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #MLK #Teamsters #Labor

Jacksonville, FL – On Friday evening, December 6, the air was electric as the inaugural Southern Regional Organizing Conference (SROC) of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) kicked off with a rally outside Café Resistance. Over 200 attendees gathered to connect, reflect and prepare for the intensive days ahead.

Florida State Representative Angie Nixon welcomed attendees to the venue, which serves as a hub for activists and community-building in Jacksonville. In light of the recent Trump victory, Nixon remarked that it is up to us to, “keep up the fight. We gotta get back to the basics: Grassroots organizing.”

“When I say people, you say power!” Monique Sampson, a conference organizer and member of the NAARPR National Desk began, “We are here to organize and resist. They say the South is too far gone. This weekend shows that it is a lie! We are here to fight. This weekend is about struggle. It is about justice and continuing to fight. Because when we dare to struggle, we dare to win!”

Organizers and participants expressed enthusiasm about the weekend’s agenda, which is set to address critical issues such as community control of the police, political repression, and liberation struggles across the Deep South. Many noted the significance of convening in Jacksonville, a historic Black city marked by both resilience and repression.

In his speech, NAARPR Co-Chair Michael Sampson highlighted the need to struggle against undemocratic and racist state laws like Florida’s HB-1 and Texas's HB-9, two measures that will criminalize protests and block police accountability. Sampson emphasized, “We are going to keep pushing for real political power. All the harsh repression we have faced in Florida; they are trying to snuff out our voice and harm our movement. Our presence and organizing here is a message and a clear shot across the bow: they cannot stop us.”

Frank Chapman, the executive director of the Alliance, told the crowd, “When we were born 51 years ago, all of our first major cases came out of the South. Wilmington 10, Atlanta 6, Joann Little. Today, the National Alliance continues to press the legacy of fighting repression in the South. The SROC is about building the people’s power. The South has always been a battleground for the Black liberation movement, and we are here to take the struggle to a new level.”

The evening’s rally set a powerful tone for the weekend. The night buzzed with conversations about the transformative potential of the strategizing sessions and discussions to come.

As the rally concluded, NAARPR Co-Chair Sydney Loving addressed the crowd, grounding the event in its historical significance. She led attendees in a unified chant: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win!”

“Our job is not to tell people they are oppressed,” Loving continued. “The people feel it – we feel it heavily in the South. Our job as organizers is to show our communities that we can step into our power together and do something about it. We can and always will fight back.”

The night ended with the crowd chanting, “The South got something to say!”

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #USSouth #NAARPR #SROC #Feature

Roughly 25 community members came together to watch two films that spotlight the city’s pivotal role in the fight for liberation: Agnès Varda’s Black Panthers 1968 and Shola Lynch’s Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners. The films offered not only a window into the past but a mirror reflecting the struggles and solidarity still needed in Oakland today.

Agnès Varda’s Black Panthers 1968 is an on-the-ground documentary capturing the resiliency of the Black Panther Party as they rallied to free Huey Newton, co-founder of the movement. Filmed in Oakland at the height of the Panthers’ activism, the film is a testament to their ability to unite working-class people and oppressed communities against police violence and systemic injustice. Varda’s work doesn’t just document history; it brings to life the defiant hope of the movement and its roots in the city’s streets.

The second film, Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, is an account of Angela Davis’s trial and the international movement to secure her release. Davis, a scholar, communist and activist, was charged with crimes related to a 1970 courthouse shootout. Lynch’s documentary recounts the global solidarity campaign that demanded her freedom, framing it as both a personal and collective story of resistance. It’s a powerful reminder of what can be accomplished when movements cross borders and people stand united against oppression.

FRSO Oakland members led the program, situating these stories in Oakland’s broader revolutionary history. They reminded attendees of the Black Panther Party’s core mission – building unity between oppressed nationalities and working-class people to fight systemic inequality. They also illuminated the government’s counterattacks, particularly through COINTELPRO, the FBI’s covert program that sought to dismantle revolutionary movements.

The discussion didn’t stop with history. Participants connected the lessons of the films to ongoing struggles in Oakland, particularly the work of the newly formed Oakland Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (OAARPR). This group, a local chapter of the national NAARPR which emerged from the fight to free Angela Davis, works alongside families of police violence victims and pushes for community control of the police.

In this context, the group also critiqued the failures of Oakland’s Community Police Review Agency, highlighting its ineffectiveness as a key example of the city's ongoing systemic issues with police corruption and violence. This discussion tied the historical and contemporary struggles together, underscoring the urgent need for real change.

Adding a tangible connection to the past, CARP displayed a collection of artifacts that captured the spirit of the Black Panthers and the Free Angela Davis campaigns. Old political pins reading “Free Angela Davis and all political prisoners” and “Black Panther Party: All power to the people” sat alongside the Panthers’ iconic “Ten-Point Program”, photo books, and pamphlets from the 1980s. These materials bridged generations, underscoring the enduring relevance of these struggles.

The films and discussions drove home a powerful message: the fight for justice is as urgent today as ever. In a city shaped by revolutionary victories and ongoing battles, the event called on everyone to organize, educate and resist with renewed purpose.

Oakland's legacy as a beacon for liberation movements lives on – not just in history books but in the work unfolding right now. From the Black Panther Party’s bold defiance to today’s campaigns for police accountability, the message resonated loud and clear, the struggle continues, and our commitment must match its urgency.

#OaklandCA #CA #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackPanthers #NAARPR #FRSO #CARP

Atlanta, GA – Since August 2024, a dozen Black men at Virginia’s Red Onion supermax prison have set themselves on fire in a desperate attempt to escape conditions that amount to prolonged torture.

Red Onion is infamous for the abuses it has carried out against prisoners since its opening in 1998. Most of its prisoners spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, some of them for as long as 14 years. Red Onion has been known to use attack dogs on prisoners who speak out and organize against the guards’ abuses.

This recent series of self-immolations has been brought to light through Prison Radio communiques by a veteran of the Black liberation movement, longtime political prisoner Kevin Rashid Johnson, who is currently held in Red Onion.

Johnson describes a prisoner known as Econ and his cellmate Trayvon Brown setting themselves on fire in the most recent acts of self-immolation. Econ informed Johnson that the self-immolation was an attempt to get transferred out of Red Onion, even if just temporarily to a hospital, as the conditions have become so intolerable. These acts of desperation come on the heel of Johnson’s 71-day hunger strike that was launched in protest of Red Onion’s inhumane conditions. Guards have been serving food with maggots, carrying out religious persecution, using racial slurs, and denying medical treatment.

In an interview with Prison Radio, Ekong Eshiet gave his reason for self-immolation, “I would rather die before I stay up here, because every day I’m dealing with discrimination, whether it’s about my race, my last name, or my religion.” Eshiet is a Muslim from Africa and has been subjected to frequent beatings that included rubbing pepper spray in his burn wounds. Guards often deface their Quran during these attacks. Eshiet has also launched a hunger strike, “I’m doing my best, like I’m going about this the right way, I guess, like with the hunger strike way. But if I have to, I don’t mind setting myself on fire again. This time, I would set my whole body on fire before I have to stay up here and do the rest of my time.”

27-year-old Demetrius Wallace was one of the first to set fire to his leg in August. Upon being taken to the medical wing of the prison he was denied any treatment. The guards waited three days to transfer him to the VCU Health burn unit. Wallace told The Virginia Defender, “As soon as the doctor sees me, he said, ‘When did this happen?’ I said, ‘Friday.’ He said, ‘Why haven’t you been here?’ I said, ‘I’m not trying to be funny, but I can’t drive myself from the prison.’” Because of this delay, doctors were forced to cure an infection that had developed before they could even begin treating the burn itself.

The trend of medical negligence in American prisons is used as a form of extrajudicial punishment and retaliation. By fostering the conditions for prisoners to develop medical issues, and then denying treatment for said issues, jailers have created a means to murder inmates. This tactic is part and parcel with the systematic inequality imposed on Blacks, Chicanos and other oppressed nationalities by the monopoly capitalist class.

This practice is not limited to prisons either. In the Black Belt south, overcrowded jails such as the Fulton County jail are just as dreadful as prisons. In 2024 alone there were ten inmate deaths in Fulton County. In Dekalb county outside of Atlanta, which is 53% Black, the jails conditions are similar to Fulton county.

Earlier this year, Fight Back! reported on the death of 27-year-old Christon Collins at Dekalb County jail, the result of blatant medical negligence after Christon fell and hit his head. According to Christon’s mother Jonia Milburn, “My son laid on the floor for three hours with no care. Nobody noticed. No guards, no supervisors, no one but the inmates.”

Fight Back! will continue to monitor the ongoing resistance and hunger strikes at Red Onion prison.

#AtlantaGA #GA #InJnjusticeSystem #Prison #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican

Fight Back News Service is circulating this call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression inviting organizers in the South to attend a regional organizing conference.

This December 6th-8th, the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) is convening our inaugural Southern Regional Organizing Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. This conference will bring together progressive forces in the South fighting for Black liberation, Indigenous rights and land sovereignty. We are fighting back against police crimes and political repression to free all those unjustly incarcerated as well as defending all progressive movements fighting for a just society. NAARPR, which arose out of the movement to Free Angela Davis, was refounded in 2019 with well over two dozen branches and affiliate organizations nationwide. Since the 2020 George Floyd uprisings, NAARPR has seen a growth in new organizing struggles in cities across the country; specifically, in the Black Belt Region of the Deep South, the historic homelands of Africans trafficked to North America, where the majority of their descendants still live today.

This conference will be taking place in Jacksonville, Florida. As we have seen the past few years, Florida has been home to some of the harshest forms of political repression happening today. This includes the passage of anti-protest laws such as HB1, attempted repression of the Tampa 5 and others fighting against racism, right wing government attempts seeking to ban the teaching of Black history in education, bigoted laws targeting reproductive rights, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community. In spite of all this, NAARPR branches and affiliate organizations, notably those in Jacksonville, Tampa, Tallahassee, New Orleans, Atlanta, the District of Columbia, Dallas, and Charleston have made great gains in fighting back and building the people’s struggle. These branches join in the struggle and fight for the movement’s right to demand: community control of the police, land sovereignty, labor rights, universal housing, reproductive freedom, quality health care and education; reparations; and environmental justice.

Our work across the South today is a continuation of a longstanding liberation struggle being waged by Black and Indigenous people. Since the first Africans were trafficked here to provide free slave labor on stolen Indigenous land, we have struggled for our freedom. As a national mass defense organization, we fight for self-determination and political power, a right that has been denied to Black people in the South since Reconstruction. NAARPR branches nationwide understand the significance of international solidarity with oppressed people across the globe. We have extended our unequivocal support to the Palestinian people’s struggle and the liberation of all oppressed nations. We acknowledge that our liberation is inextricably connected.

The NAARPR Southern Regional Organizing Conference is a chance to hear about and learn from the work of organizers from across the South against the backdrop of this history. We call on all those nationwide to converge and join us. We know the South is ground zero for the repressive forces that are sure to touch the rest of the country. By uniting our movements, we become invincible. Join us this December because—THE SOUTH GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #South #NAARPR #SROC #PoliceCrimes #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican

Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, August 24, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) held its annual Black August event, remembering the tradition of what Black August means to the struggle for Black liberation, along with spotlighting various struggles happening in the community. Around 70 community members attended the event, which took place at Cafe Resistance off Soutel Road, one of the centers of the Black community in Jacksonville.

Presenters spoke about what Black liberation means to them, along with hearing a brief political education about the fight for Black self-determination in the deep South. Along with political education, various speakers from different community grassroots organization spoke, including Anthony Brown with the Red Alliance for Justice, who spoke about the need to fight redlining and the need to fight for Black ownership of our communities.

Natassia Woods, the mother of La’Keian Woods, spoke about, the fight for justice for her son, who was brutalized by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office cops last year. She spoke about why groups like the JCAC are important, because if it wasn’t for family and the community fighting, her son would still be in prison facing bogus charges. Due to efforts by JCAC alongside the family, the trumped-charges against La’Keian Woods were dropped.

The event also had performers from poets to dance performers delight the audience with a showcase of their arts. At the end of the event, JCAC honored longtime community activist Wells Todd with Take Em Down Jacksonville, who has been in the struggle for well over 40 years. Wells Todd spoke about, the need to fight for Black liberation and the only way we can get Black liberation is if we abolish imperialism.

The JCAC hosts also spoke about the need to continue to fight for community control of the police through a Public Safety Committee, along with fighting for a People’s Budget that prioritizes city money going to the community, not just for more cops.

The community members who attended event enjoyed food and drinks and heard about upcoming events. For more information on the JCAC, visit jaxtakesaction.org or Jax Takes Action on social media.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #InjusticeSystem #JCAC

Dallas, TX – Around 50 people gathered early in the evening of Sunday, August 25, in front of the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the murder of two Black children killed at the hands of Dallas police.

The boys were brothers, George Johnson, aged 14, and Johnny Johnson, aged 13. The vigil was attended by three siblings of the Johnson brothers and organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Stop Cop City Dallas Coalition, and the DFW Anti-War Committee. Community members from all around the Dallas-Fort Worth area were present.

The siblings of the Johnson brothers shared heartfelt thoughts and recollections. Other speakers included Justin Bent from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Britney English from Stop Cop City Dallas, and local activist Olinka Green.

Britney English remarked, “When society’s perception of you doesn’t line up with who you are as an individual, your identity is defined by the racism, bias and hate of others. George and Johnny were children. The police claim they saw men. George and Johnny had pipes to play music with. The police claim they saw shotguns. George and Johnny were junior high students, and the police saw criminals. You can’t train that sort of bias and hate out of someone.”

The vigil concluded with a moment of silence for George and Johnny Johnson at the exact time they were murdered: 8:40 p.m. on August 25, 1974.

The story of the Johnson brothers had been largely forgotten in Dallas until it was recently brought back to public attention by the work of journalist Sam Judy. Regretfully, the boys' graves still bear no headstone as of the time of writing, but the vigil also helped raise money to address that.

#DallasTX #TX #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #NAARPR #DAWC

Winter Haven, FL – On Sunday, June 30, the voices of hundreds assembled at the Church of God the Bibleway echoed the demands for police accountability in nearby Lakeland, Florida as stories of abuses at the hands of the Lakeland Police Department were shared.

Attorney Bobby DiCello, representing the victims, moderated the press conference. Activists and victims spoke out about the abuse that Lakeland Police Department is responsible for. DiCello, on behalf of the victims, asked for a meeting between the victims and the Lakeland Chief of Police Sam Taylor, who has time and time again covered for the abuses and incompetence of his officers, as they beat, harass and invent bogus charges against African Americans in Lakeland.

The press conference included speakers from The Church of God the Bibleway, The Poor and Minority Justice Association (PMJA), Building Bridges, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, the Andrew Joseph III Foundation, and the Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TAARPR). The assembled congregation cheered and yelled their support for the victims seeking accountability and justice.

Speaking on behalf of Building Bridges and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, Marquell Bridges summed up a large part of the problem, stating, “They kill us with impunity, because of qualified immunity,” referring to the doctrine of “qualified immunity” that shields cops from any accountability for crimes or misconduct they commit on the job.

Qualified immunity was the doctrine that another attendee at the press conference, Andrew Joseph, Jr. had to overcome to get some accountability for his 14-year-old son, Andrew Joseph III – who was killed by a driver after Hillsborough County Sheriffs illegally arrested him at the state fair and left him by the side of the interstate.

The Poor and Minority Justice Association, along with TAARPR, have been fighting with one of these victims of Lakeland PD, Antwan Glover, since his assault last December, when he was accosted, beaten, arrested and charged, for nothing more than sitting in his car in his family’s driveway. The charges against him were dropped after sustained pressure, and police incompetence, when they were faced with the reality that there was no crime they could charge Glover with.

But the joy of that victory was short lived as Lakeland PD hunted down another victim, a 16-year-old African American youth who was similarly beaten by the police for no other reason than being Black. Despite the fact that the police had to drop the charges on this boy quickly as well, he and his family joined the assembly to get justice so that he and other victims like Kieanna Garrett, Phillip Lightsey, DeAnthony Williams and others will no longer be targeted by the racist terrorists at Lakeland PD.

The Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression has circulated a list of seven demands for the City of Lakeland, including:

“Establish an elected Community Commission for Community Safety and Accountability and extend the Powers of the Civilian Review Board.

Resignation of the current police chief Sammy Taylor.

Firing and charging all officers who brutalized members of the Lakeland community.

Resignation of the current Lakeland city manager Shawn Sherrouse.

Open investigation with public input into all cases of excessive police violence.

A pardon for all those falsely accused and incarcerated.

Lakeland Police must ensure all officers have working body cameras at all times.”

The press conference ended with a call from the speakers for all members of the congregation, but also the Lakeland community, to join a sustained campaign to pressure the city of Lakeland to accept these demands, and to not stop fighting until real police accountability comes to Lakeland and ends the reign of racist terror.

#WinterHavenFL #FL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #NAARPR #TAARPR

Dallas, TX – On Saturday, July 6, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) Dallas partnered with the Stop Cop City Dallas coalition for a town hall meeting at Pan-African Connection to educate the community on the planned construction of a police training facility to be built on the University of North Texas at Dallas campus.

Four speakers from the coalition presented on the history of policing and militarization of the institution, while linking it to the threat of a cop city planned to be built by 2027. Vital information was given on the planned construction of the facility. the trail of police brutality that DPD is responsible for, including police killings, and what is necessary to combat the escalation of police repression. The audience of around 55 people was engaged with the presentation and active in the conversations afterward.

They pointed out the impact this facility would have on police departments across the country. Ebonee Taylor, a member of NAARPR Dallas, pointed out that police forces “across the country come here and to Atlanta to do more training to learn more threatening tactics towards the community.”

The event ended with a Q&A that included a larger call to action that highlighted the relation of police repression with the struggles of many other oppressed groups. A member of Stop Cop City Dallas stated, “Language justice, disability justice it’s all connected. And we want everybody to see and feel themselves within this movement because that’s what it’s going to take.”

NAARPR Dallas and the Stop Cop City coalition continue to mobilize to fight back against this imminent threat of police repression amidst a larger national push towards regressive political rule.

#DallasTX #TX #InJusticeSystem #CopCity #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #NAARPR

Tallahassee, FL – On Saturday, June 1, around 25 community members held a rally at Leon County Courthouse to continue to demand that the false and racist charges against Calvin Riley be dropped.

Riley was sentenced to ten days in jail and a six month probation for DUI after Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) Officer Kiersten Oliver planted evidence in Calvin’s car, as shown by body camera footage of Oliver opening a sealed bottle of liquor, emptying it on the street, and then throwing the bottle back into his car.

The speeches placed demands on the city regarding Calvin Riley’s case, specifically the overturning of the charges, the reinstatement of a powerful Civilian Police Review Board, the firing of Officer Kiersten Oliver and the condemnation of TPD’s blatant misconduct and disrespectful “investigation.” The investigation supposedly “thoroughly reviewed the incident and did not find any evidence of misconduct,” to quote TPD Chief Lawrence Revell, who himself killed a young Black man, George Williams Jr., in 1996.

The event was organized by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) with members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Dissenters, and Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) also attending.

Jason Carles, speaking on behalf of Tally SDS, related the miscarriage of justice against Calvin Riley with the police repression faced by members of Tally SDS protesting their university’s ties to Israel.

Carles stated, “At our most recent action on campus, we were approached by no less than three different TPD officers threatening arrest. I asked officers several times to cite a rule that we were violating. They couldn’t come up with it. As soon as I heard about the Calvin Riley case, these instances came to mind. TPD not only loves to selectively enforce laws to specifically discriminate against people of color, they love to just make up laws in general.”

The Calvin Riley case has caused a noticeable rift in the Tallahassee city commission: while progressive commissioners such as Jeremy Matlow have voiced support for Riley on social media and at city commission meetings, Mayor John Dailey publicly attacked Matlow and protesters demanding justice, saying, “I’m getting tired of members of this board [who] criticize police action after it goes before a jury of our peers.” Riley was convicted by an all-white jury, which is not “a jury of peers” for him, a Black man.

Tito Leadon, representing the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, closed out the rally with the following words: “We need a Civilian Police Review Board with some teeth, not the powerless one we have right now. Without it, we’ll keep having cops like Kiersten Oliver roaming the streets and terrorizing our communities.”

#TallahasseeFL #FL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #TCAC #FRSO #Dissenters #SDS

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TAARPR).

The Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is delighted to announce that all charges on Antwan Glover have been dismissed! This victory would not have been possible without Antwan fighting with us against these false charges. We thank all who participated in the call-ins, email-ins, and attended his court date protests in Bartow.

On December 18, 2022, Antwan was parked in front of a family member's house when Lakeland PD approached his vehicle with their sirens and lights off. The cops racially profiled Antwan and beat him in full view of his family. The video that his daughter took shows Antwan being punched in the face and tazed repeatedly, without resisting. Antwan then faced bogus charges following the police assault, which amounted to up to 20-plus years in prison.

What happened to Antwan was a series of events that are all too familiar for Black men in Florida. But Antwan fought back — he was not willing to accept any bogus plea deal, which would make him admit guilt to acts he did not commit and potentially serve jail time. Antwan and TAARPR openly called out the cover up, called out the repeated instances of police brutality, and held an event on every single one of his court dates.

It was the public pressure and community power that forced the cops and state’s attorney to finally admit these charges were without cause and drop them. This victory shows not only that we have to fight to win, but also that when we fight, we win.

Unfortunately, Antwan’s case is not the only case of police brutality in Lakeland that has resulted in bogus criminal charges against Black folks. TAARPR has found at least seven additional community members who have experienced eerily similar arrests and subsequent charges, all involving many of the same officers involved in Antwan’s case. This is not a coincidence; this is an established pattern. TAARPR will stand with anyone willing to fight these cases of repression. TAARPR’s job will not be finished until these cops are off the streets, and there is real community control of the police so they can’t racially terrorize our communities any more!

When we fight, We win! Community Control of the Police! Jail cops for excessive force!

#TampaFL #FL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #PoliceCrimes #PoliceBrutality #NAARPR